The first step in decoding Korean place names is to learn the four
directions. These are:

DIRECTIONS

northpuk

westso-jjok

easttong

southnam

The names of geographic features are:

GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES

haebyon

seashorebeach

san

hillmountain

sinae

small riverbrook

kangnae

river

hang-gu

harbor, port

tae-yang

ocean

pa-da

sea

hae-hyop

channelstrait

ho-su

lake

mul

water

man

gulf, bay

kot

cape

hanto

peninsula

p'yong-ya

plains

san-maek

mountain range

on-dokchak-un san

hill

kol-jja-gikye-gok

valley

som

island

ta-rikyo-ryang

bridge

kilchil-lo

road

hae-anyon-an

coast

hae-byon

beach

The names of colors and numbers are:

COLORS

huinhin pithuida

white

ppal-gan pit

red

kom-un pithuk

black

no-ran pithwang

yellow

cha-jut pit

purple

p'u-run pit

blue

ch'o-rok pit

green

NUMBERS

KoreanOrigin

ChineseOrigin

one

hana

il

two

tul

i

three

set

sam

four

net

sa

five

taseot

o

six

yeoseot

yuk

seven

ilgop

ch'il

eight

yeodeol

p'al

nine

ahop

ku

ten

yeol

ship

Some names for administrative entities and for attributes are:

ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITIES

to-si

city

chi-bang

district

chi-yok

locality

Some city names:

CITY NAMES

CITY

ORIGIN OF NAME

Seoul

"capital"

Pusan

"teapot hill"

Province Names:

The names of the provinces in most cases are combinations of the names
of their two major cities; i.e., Kangsang from the cities of Kangju and Sangju and
Ch'ungch'ong from the cities Ch'ungju and Ch'ongju.